“We are drowning in information. The web has given us access to data we would never have found before, from specialist datasets to macroeconomic minutiae. But, look for the simplest fact or statistic and Google will present a million contradictory ones. Where’s the best place to start?That’s how this blog came about. Everyday we work with datasets from around the world. We have had to check this data and make sure it’s the best we can get, from the most credible sources. But then it lives for the moment of the paper’s publication and afterward disappears into a hard drive, rarely to emerge again before updating a year later.”

Besides their award-winning datablog, the site includes:
• The key data of the day
• Our pick of the data blogosphere – which sites have the key posts?
• Search the world’s government data – and global development data
• Featured apps

Governments around the globe are opening up their data vaults – allowing you to check out the numbers for yourself. This is the Guardian’s gateway to that information. Search for government data here from countries, cities and states around the world – and we’re adding more all the time. Read more about this on the Datablog. Full list of government data sites here. Find out how to use our world government data API here.

The Open Platform is a suite of services for developing digital products and applications with the Guardian.

They offer tools for using Guardian resources on other platforms and for integrating applications directly within the Guardian network.